The Tennessee Supreme Court censured Montgomery County lawyer Carrie Watson Gasaway on April 13. The court took the action after Gasaway accepted a nonrefundable retainer from a client with $250 designated to be held in trust.  At the conclusion of the representation, Gasaway provided no explanation for her use of the funds held in trust and did not refund the money. Gasaway also accepted a $3,500 fee from a client and did no work, and she failed to respond to requests for information from the client. Gasaway was previously disbarred on Oct. 5, 2015. Read the BPR release.

District Attorney Glenn Funk appointed Lody Limbird to Division VI Criminal Court, WKRN reports. Limbard is the first Latino Assistant District Attorney to serve in Davidson County Criminal Court. “In order to understand the needs of the people we serve, it is important for public servants to also reflect the diversity of the community,” she said. The court handles prosecution of domestic violence cases with a special interest in aggravated assault by strangulation.

The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Nashville at the end of this week in several criminal cases and one civil case. The court will consider whether a conviction for facilitation of possession with intent to deliver warrants the application of the sentence enhancements under the Drug Free School Zone Act, whether aggravated sexual battery is a lesser-included offense of rape of a child, and more. Oral arguments will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Nashville Supreme Court Building, 401 7th Ave N. This is the first time Justice Roger A. Page will hear oral arguments as a member of the Supreme Court.  

The TBA Environmental Law Section announced Grant Ruhl, a student at the University of Tennessee College of Law, is the winner of the 2016 Jon E. Hastings Memorial Award Writing Competition. The annual section-sponsored contest is a juried competition for the best legal writing on a topic of Tennessee or federal environmental law and is open to law students enrolled in a Tennessee law school. Ruhl's paper, "An Unpopular Victory: Exploring EPA's 2015 Ozone NAAQS Revisions," addresses the EPA's updated Clean Air Act standard for ozone.

WPLN reports the state House voted last night to strip roughly $5 million from the University of Tennessee's Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The measure (HB 2248) would take the money, which accounts for the agency's total funding, and split it between scholarships for minority students and decals for police cruisers that say "In God We Trust." The move follows two controversial posts on the office’s website. The Senate Education Committee voted in March to remove the office's state funding. 

The Nashville firm of Hollins, Raybin & Weissman has been renamed to Raybin & Weissman, and the firm announced it will focus its practice in criminal defense and personal injury work. John Hollins Jr., a longtime partner, will move his domestics relations practice to Thompson Burton PLLC in Franklin. His move is effective July 1. Raybin & Weissman will continue to be located in the Fifth Third Center, 424 Church St., Suite 2200. 

The state House approved a measure (SJR 0467) last night that would order Attorney General Herbert Slately to sue the federal government over a refugee resettlement program. The Senate previously approved the measure and must now sign off on a change that would allow a private law firm to sue on behalf of the state before the measure becomes law, The Associated Press reports. “The passage of this resolution, and the litigation that will follow, puts Tennessee on the wrong side of history,” said Stephanie Teatro, co-executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. 

J. Ross Dyer was confirmed to the Court of Criminal Appeals last night during a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly. Gov. Bill Haslam appointed Dyer, who has been the Shelby County Attorney since 2014, to the position in March. He is the first CCA judge to go through the General Assembly’s new confirmation process. Dyer replaces Roger Page, who recently became a state Supreme Court Justice. 

The appellant, State of Tennessee, appeals the Williamson County Circuit Court?s granting the motion of the appellee, Brady P. Smithson, to dismiss an indictment for two counts of vehicular assault, a Class D felony. On appeal, the State contends that the trial court misapplied the factors in State v. Ferguson, 2 S.W.3d 912 (Tenn. 1999). Based upon the oral arguments, the record, and the parties? briefs, we affirm the ruling of the trial court.

This appeal arises from an effort by a former bank employee to collect certain deferred compensation payments. Kenneth R. Vaught (?Vaught?) filed a complaint against his former employer, Green Bankshares, Inc., and its wholly owned subsidiary, Greenbank (?Greenbank?), in the Chancery Court for Knox County (?the Trial Court?). Both sides agree Vaught is entitled to certain deferred compensation. The issue is the amount.